


ice is slowly melting

by calvinahobbes



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2020, Established Relationship, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23317324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calvinahobbes/pseuds/calvinahobbes
Summary: Dan's mum brings Colin on a visit.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 21
Kudos: 159





	ice is slowly melting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackbirddan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbirddan/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Mad! <3 I hope you have a wonderful day! I tried writing you slice-of-life but this happened, I hope it's not too bittersweet <3

The knock on the door takes Dan by surprise. He's still fixing his hair and has yet to put on his shirt. Phil knows this, of course.

"Want me to get it?" he calls, voice calm and relaxed. 

Dan doesn't know how he does it. He personally is ridiculously high-strung considering this is hardly the first time his mum has come 'round for tea. 

He answers in the affirmative and hears the door open, Phil's low pleasant voice and his mum's higher one exchanging muffled pleasantries. There's a scurrying, and Phil's voice rises quite uncharacteristically, but Dan barely registers it. 

He finishes his messing with his hair and pulls his shirt on. He stares into the mirror and takes a deep breath. He can do this. He's done it before. The key now is to be open, his therapist said. They're past the worst of it. He sighs explosively and goes to say hello, closing the bedroom door firmly behind him. They usually leave all their doors open, but he's not ready for that yet.

By the door, Phil is crouched next to Dan's mum's legs. Dan blinks, and Phil looks up with an enormous grin. "Look who came to visit!" 

Dan finally sees Colin. 

At Phil's words the dog seems to notice Dan and scurries over to greet him, tail wagging. 

"Hello, Colin!" Dan says in pleased surprise and ruffles him briefly before stepping over to give his mum a hug. It’s weird how just having Colin here makes everything feel more normal, less tense.

She smiles and squeezes him tightly as he mumbles hello into her hair and kisses her cheek. She smells like mum, and it's still so big and scary to see her here, in this new context of outness and openness, but it's fine. Everything is fine. When he pulls back she holds on just that fraction too long so that it feels hard to get free. 

"You brought Colin," he says and smiles.

She looks at him, and it's hard to meet her gaze. It's hard to let her look. 

"I hope that's okay." She turns to Phil. "You said last time…"

"It's great! Dogs are never not okay!" Phil says. Colin has come back to sit quietly by him as Phil scratches its chest. It stares at him as if it is consumed with gratefulness to him.

"He's _always_ welcome," Dan says, quietly.

His mum looks at him again, and this time he has to look away from the dampness he sees collecting in the corner of her eye. She nods and clears her throat, and he offers to take her coat, and then they stare with bated breath as Colin scales the slippery stairs, hot on Phil's oblivious heels.

By the time Dan and his mum make it up into the lounge Phil and Colin are already sat on the sofa, Phil bending his ridiculously huge form over the small dog. 

Dan has his phone out and is snapping photos before he can really think about it. 

Phil seems to know, senses it somehow, because he looks up and at Dan through the lens. He doesn't smile, just looks at Dan quietly, dark glasses and grey cable knit jumper. Dan swipes to video and presses record, and Phil says, "He's so cute!"

"I know, right?" Dan smiles. 

Phil hugs Colin again and Colin scores a lick.

"Ooh, got some tongue action, good for you, Colin," Dan laughs as Phil sputters. 

Colin looks at Phil, and Phil looks at Colin. Dan snaps another photo. 

"Okay, I feel like he is actually staring into my soul!" Phil says. He looks at Dan, not through the lens this time, and grins, one eyebrow cocked. "I know you told me, but I didn't know it would be like that."

"He's a soul searching dog," Dan says, and then suddenly remembers that his mum is in the room and they're being kind of rude. He puts his phone down and smiles a bit sheepishly at her.

She smiles back, a little hesitant. "You really do that," she says and nods to the phone in his hand. 

Dan knows she means filming each other. Surely she has seen enough of their instagram stories to know as much. 

He shrugs. "Yeah. I mean, only when stuff happens."

"Yeah," Phil says softly, "only, like, stuff we wanna remember."

It makes something a lot like nerves spike through Dan's stomach, which is ridiculous. He says 'we' all the time too. Has, long before he even came out to her. 

"Well, in that case," his mum says with a shaky breath and takes her own phone. She gestures for Dan to sit next to Phil. 

He feels awkward but still complies with her request. He puts a hand on Colin almost out of habit, and Phil puts his arm on the couch behind him, tipping his head towards Dan's shoulder. Dan smiles against the flutter of nerves. 

"There," she says and smiles down at the photo on her screen. 

They both get up to have a look, Phil's hand squeezing his wrist as they go. It's a very candid photo, nothing special or very coordinated about them. Dan's smile is awkward, Phil looks caught between expressions, and Colin is staring up at Dan. 

"Can I send this to Nana? She'll be glad to see it."

Dan swallows and nods. Phil rubs a hand over his shoulder blade, a quick, gentle gesture that he clearly isn't thinking much of. It's another fleeting touch that feels infinitely grounding to Dan in this moment. 

"Tea, Karen?" Phil asks and turns towards the kitchen.

"Please," she smiles and looks after him.

"I have a brand new selection of pure herbals," he says over his shoulder. Dan doesn't miss the way it makes her smile widen. The last time she was here she was stuck with camomile. 

She trails after Phil. "That's lovely, Phil. Thank you."

Phil smiles distractedly as he puts the kettle on.

"Anything I can do to help?" she asks, and it's painfully polite, almost enough to set Dan's teeth on edge.

"Oh no," Phil says affably. "Have a seat. Dan, tea?"

"Yeah," Dan says.

Phil serves up herbal tea (coffee for himself) and far too many bakery-bought cookies for three people, and they settle down in the sofas.

"So," his mum says, and it makes Dan nervous all over again. "What have you been up to?" she asks and looks at him expectantly.

Dan raises his eyebrows and is just about to say, "Work," when Phil beats him to a reply.

"He's been running _a lot_."

"Yeah?" she says happily.

Dan shrugs and nods. He has actually been running a lot. Consistently. Building his stamina.

"He's practically running in his sleep at this point," Phil jokes. 

Dan marvels distractedly that it doesn't even make him flinch. Maybe he is growing as a person.

His mum gracefully ignores his awkwardness, forging bravely ahead. "Use that plan I sent you?" she asks, full of hope.

"Different one," he mumbles, awkwardly. "They're pretty similar."

"Of course," she says and gestures like it doesn't matter, but it still makes him feel guilty that he has ignored another bit of her advice. "Have you been out today?"

"Not yet. It's better at night," he says and makes a face that's supposed to indicate the weirdness of his life that leads to night-time jogs being preferable.

She nods and looks as if she had genuinely forgotten for a moment. It's one of those things that make Dan nervous. 

"Well. I'm proud of you for getting out so much."

He tries to smile even as he's already mentally filing it away as a quote for his therapist. She's trying to be supportive, he reminds himself. She just wants to be involved in his life. And he wants her to be. He does, even if his knee-jerk reaction to any attempt at supportive parenting is immediate petulance. 

His mum's phone gets a text message, loudly. She picks it up to check and smiles, crookedly. "Nana writes: 'What a handsome couple. Give them my love.' And then a kissy face." There's definitely a film of pride covering her voice, and it makes a host of emotions come on Dan like a ton of bricks.

She holds it out for them to see, and Phil giggles - that short, surprised, private one that Dan associates with family time. Dan's own throat is constricting even as he does his best to smile. 

His mum looks at him without saying anything for just a split second too long. Hey eyes are soft. Then she turns to Phil and says, "Did you do something different with the fish tank?"

Phil's face lights up instantly, and he's off, telling her how big the plants have grown, and how many shrimp they have now, and Norman's bubble nest. Dan can't stop himself from supplying facts and corrections as appropriate, or rather he doesn't bother to stop himself, but it's mostly Phil's show. It's not long before he has dragged them over to look at the tank up close.

Colin joins them of course, putting his front paws on the table and studying the tank curiously. Norman swims closer, attracted by all the movement.

"Oh, my god, it's the cutest thing ever!" Phil exclaims, a growl of cute aggression as he photographs them. “Look! They’re saying hello!”

Dan and his mum laugh at him. Phil turns his camera on them and snaps a picture before Dan has a chance to think about it. Phil looks at the picture briefly, and a soft smile slips over his face before he puts it away.

When they go back to sit on the sofa again, Dan takes Phil's hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. [Like/reblog on tumblr.](https://calvinahobbes.tumblr.com/post/613627890723094528)


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